I smile and take a big bite of food. I hadn’t thought about that day in a long time. After that, the two of us were inseparable, although our teachers tried. Even from opposite sides of the room, we’d manage entire conversations somehow. Now I know how our teachers felt. I’ve got my own students who refuse to stop talking. No matter how many times I try to keep them apart, they always seem to find their way back together. I may owe a few teachers an apology.
COVEY
Being an extrovert serves me well. I’ve moved around a lot, but I always manage to make friends. I’m well aware it’s not that easy for others. I always find people, mostly because I talk to anything that moves. At least that’s what my mom says. The problem with that is that it’s easy to make a lot of friends, but it’s more challenging to makegoodfriends. I almost forgot what it’s like to be around someone where I don’t have to try; where I’m not attempting to convince them to be my friend. Aidan feels like home.
“So, we probably need some sort of story about how we started dating, right?” Aidan suggests.
“That’s a good idea.” I take a bite and think about it for a minute. “I think I probably made the first move. Invited you out for a drink, then initiated the relationship.”
His brows knit together. “Why would you be the one to initiate? I’d kiss you first.”
I let my head fall to the side. “I’m pretty sure I’d make the first move.” Between us, I’m the one typically leading the way, pushing for the riskier side of things. I let myself picture us on a real first date for a minute, the way we’d sit at a table,walking him to his front door at the end of the evening. Yeah, I’d kiss him first.
“Fine, you made the first move.”
I’m not sure how specific we need to get in this. It’s not like they’ll ask about our sex life.
Scratch that. They’ll definitely ask about our sex life, but we’re not answering those questions.
“How long ago was this?”
“Well, I moved here in mid-July, so anything under three months makes sense time-wise. I first mentioned my fake boyfriend to my mom in September, so we probably need to be somewhere between two and three months.” Which is what I said the other night. At least I think. The details are already a little fuzzy.
“Okay, so what if we first started hanging out when you first moved back over the summer, going out together as friends, and then it slowly developed into more around the start of September?”
“Oooo… that’s a good story. We can tell people that we were out as friends when I leaned in and kissed you.”
“Covey, I don’t think they’re going to ask about stuff like that.”
Lies. Aidan’s forgotten how invasive my family can be. They mean well, honestly, but they tend to be a little bit too much in each other’s business. “Well, we know in case someone asks.” My mom. My mom will ask.
“I still think I’d kiss you first, but fine.” He leans back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head and arching his back to stretch.
“Does your back hurt?”
He snorts—which is adorable. “My back always hurts. I spend all day sitting in chairs that are too small and picking toys up off the floor.”
“I can show you some stretches to help with that.” At leastmy knowledge comes in handy occasionally in the real world. It’s not like there’s ever an emergency on a plane and they call overhead looking for a ballet dancer ready to choreograph an Adagio.
“That’s okay. I’m good.” I doubt that, but I won’t push.Today. He’ll cave eventually.“We need to get to know each other, not just our relationship. People expect me to know about your current life and vice versa. Tell me some things so that I have basic facts.”
“Really? You want me to list off a bunch of fun facts?” It’s like the worst icebreaker in history.
“If that’s the easiest way, then yes.”
“Okay, so I’m a Pisces, can’t live without chocolate, hate anything that has coffee in it, and I’m a professional ballet dancer.”
“Covey, you need to take this seriously. All of those are things I’ve known about you since we were ten.”
I don’t point out that I’m not sure I’d even tried coffee at the age of ten, and I wasn’t a professional. Yet.
“Fine, what do you want to know?”
“I—I don’t know. I didn’t expect this to be so… hard.” He throws his hands up in the air, clearly frustrated by the process.
When people do this in movies, it always seems so much simpler. Now, I’m not sure exactly what I’m supposed to do. “I’m just going to say it. I think the only way to do this is to spend time together.” It’s the hard way, but shortcuts aren’t working.
“Like dating?” Aidan cocks his head and glares at me.
